The Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry of the American Chemical Society is organizing a symposium on "Chemistry and Mechanisms of Tea in Disease Prevention" for its annual national meeting on September 7-13, 2003 in New York City. It is timely to hold such a symposium because of the recent progress in our understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of tea in disease prevention, especially cancer prevention. New information has also been generated regarding the role of tea in the prevention of heart disease and aging. Some of the results of these studies are being or to be translated into studies in clinical settings. Therefore, this symposium will provide scientists an opportunity to critically review this field and a better perspective regarding the role of tea in the prevention of human chronic diseases. The symposium will be co-chaired by Drs. Fung-Lung Chung and John Weisburger of the American Health Foundation Cancer Center (AHFCC), Institute for Cancer Prevention and by Dr. James Crowell of the National Cancer Institute. We have invited 14 speakers, whose work represents the frontier of this research area, to address the symposium. The American Chemical Society does not provide any financial support for participants of this symposium and financial support for other sources is not anticipated. Funds are sought to defray the costs of invited speakers at the oral symposium session.